23 November 2018

Posted by
Mike Brubaker

Bricks and mortar.It's still a common phrasefor a physical building, even though the construction industrynow relies on many more engineered materials than just bricks, blocks, and stone to build structures.

But a hundred years agoone of the principal skilled tradesthat helped build modern Americawas that of the bricklayer.It was work that required specialist knowledge of construction methods, mathematical calculations, and stamina. Lots of stamina.

In fact the ancient tools of a mason,the compass and the square,became the symbols of Freemasonry, a fraternal society which originatedin part from the medieval craft guilds of stonemasons.

However those first masons did not use any musical toolslike the tuba, clarinet, or cornet in their guilds order.But these brickies from Pennsylvania certainly did.

They are the Bricklayers Band of the Bethlehems PA. Union No. 8.

This large photo about 4" by 10"shows 26 men dressed in a simple uniform of white duck trousers, white shirt and broad capstanding on a brick sidewalk and portico and holding various wind band instruments.

The plural Bethlehems on the bass drum headrefers to the collective townshipsof Bethlehem, South Bethlehem, and West Bethlehem,which are divided by the Lehigh River and Monocacy Creek. In 1917 they merged into the singular community of Bethlehem, PA.This wonderful birds-eye view map of Bethlehemsfrom the Library of Congress archives was made in 1878 and shows off dozens of major structures -churches, banks, factories, and homes,all made of brick and stone.

Except for the bass drum, the photo is unmarked. But the name and place of the band was enough to quickly find it in the October 1912 edition of The Bricklayer Mason and Plasterer, the aptly named official journal of the Bricklayers, Masons, and Plasterers International Union of America. This trade union was formed in 1865 and is the oldest labor organization in North America as it also represents Canadian workers hence the "international union" label. In 1912 its journal included sections written in French, Italian, and German, the later printed in the old Fraktur typeface.

October 1912 The Bricklayer, Mason, and Plasterer
Source: Google Books

Subtitled "An Illustrated Monthly" the Bricklayer, Mason, and Plasterer was filled with dense reports on union affairs; lengthy lists of building contracts; numerous ads for levels and trowels; admonishments to Smoke Union Made Cigars and Tobacco; and a surprising number of photos.

_ _ _

August 1912 The Bricklayer, Mason, and Plasterer
Source: Google Books

In 1912 bricklayers were evidently suspicious of concrete construction, as this "new" engineering was considered inferior to fireproof brick and susceptible to catastrophic failure. Every month the journal reported on building collapses with photos of cracked or disintegrating concrete. Interestingly in 1912 the journal also reported on the finishing work on the Woolworth Building in New York City. With 57 floors and a height of 792 feet it was the tallest building in the world from 1913 to 1930. It required an enormous number of bricks.

_ _ _

But my real reason for reading through an old trade union journal was found on page 248 in the journal's "mail bag" section. It is a copy of the identical photo, captioned Bricklayers' Band, Union No. 8 Pa. A letter accompanies the image:

October 1912 The Bricklayer, Mason, and Plasterer
Source: Google Books

No. 8 Pa. Takes Part in Labor Day Parade.

The Bricklayer, Mason and Plasterer: Under another cover we are sending you a photograph of the Bricklayers' Band of Union No. 8 Pa., which made its first public appearance on Labor Day, accompanied by about 130 members of the union. We proceeded to Bangor, Pa., on two special cars to take part in the Four Cities Labor Day parade. Our Bricklayers' Band was organized May 8, 1911, and under the leadership of our worthy vice-president, Brither Steyers, it has become a grand success. With best wishes to one and all, I remain, Yours fraternally, Emery Haney, Secretary No. 8 Pa. Bethlehem, Pa., Septermber 29, 1912

* * *

The Bricklayers' Union Band of Bethlehems had a short life to judge by the absence of any reports of the band in Pennsylvania newspapers after 1917. As the war years disrupted so much of American manufacturing and industry, employment for bricklayers probably became too challenging for the union to keep up its musical subsection.

Laying long repetitive courses of brick is hard methodical work. The sound of tapping bricks and slapping mortar into place is actually quite a rhythmic skill that trains the ear for a steady tempo. So did bricklayers whistle while they worked?

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturdaywhere everyone needs another brick in the wall.

Wriggling the fingers with thumb to the nose is a gesture not seen much anymore, certainly not on my side of the Atlantic. For extra emphasis two hands may be used. It's called Cocking a Snook and is not intended as a nice thing. Traditionally it's associated with English customs as a signal of derision, usually made by annoying children. The internet has little to report on the origin of the phrase or the sign language. Perhaps the smiles of the four young women making this rude salute should temper our interpretation as being more on the coquettish side of expressions. Certainly the sender of this postcard has his or her own meaning for cocking a snook.

Their postcard was sent from Geneva, Switzerland on 12 October 1902To Mademoiselle Louise Berlhalch(?).But the card did not originate in Geneva but in Paris.Hidden in the upper right cornet of the postcard is a small logo:

Alcazar d'Été

The Alcazar d'Été
was a café-concert, a French version of the music hall and similar to a
cabaret. It was located on the Champs-Élysées in
Paris behind the Élysée Palace. It was a popular Parisian venue for many
19th century and early 20th century entertainers, mainly
vocalists. It closed in 1914.

Presumably these four ladies were British singers and dancers on its stage in 1902 Miss Haslam posed for a solo portrait which I suspect was taken on the same occasion by the Walery studio. Here she chooses a more discrete pose, though still showing off an ankle. Did she and her companions sing in French or English? What exactly did they mean by cocking a snook?

10 November 2018

Posted by
Mike Brubaker

Tomorrow, November 11, 2018 will mark the 100th year since the end of World War I. Here in the United States it was originally designated in 1919 as Armistice Day by President Woodrow Wilson and ever since November 11 has become "a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace." In 1954 it was changed to Veterans Day so it could honor the veterans of all wars. Since 1918 those veterans have served American in 30 foreign wars and conflicts. In truth the United States still remains a nation at war, with combat troops serving in many troubled places around the globe.

Yet the casualty statistics of the Great War of 1914-1918 were truly staggering numbers that rapidly exceeded the human cost of wars in previous decades. As the war progressed every nation at war formed special bureaucratic offices to handle the public relations necessary to sustain the war effort through these difficult times. As victors the allied propaganda still remains part of our societal consciousness, but Germany has evolved much more dramatically through two great wars. So it was surprising to discover this small bit of German ephemera – a postcard with the Great War's statistics from the German perspective of 1917.

Deutschlands Erfolge zu Lande am Ende des dritten Kriegsjahres (Hinzu kommen die Erfloge sit August 1917.)Germany's successes on land at the end of the third year of the war
(Added to this are the accomplishments of August 1917)

The total number of captured guns is about 12 times greater
than the total number of American guns at the outbreak of war..

The numbers were doubtlessly intended to impress rather than horrify. Numbers to demonstrate the power of the military to protect a besieged people and defeat a multitude of enemies. Numbers of breathtaking size to quell any misapprehension of the German war effort.

This pocket guide to the war was prepared by author O. Schulze, and published by H. M. Hauschild, of Bremen.(The company was established in 1855 and endured the turbulent 20th century to succumb to bankruptcy in 2013)

In the message space on the back of the postcard is a note in purple pencil. I can't make out the first words, but the last are clear.

von Welt Kreig~ from World War1914 - 1918

_ _ _

Today the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany or Bundesrepublik Deutschland covers just 357,021 km² (137,847 sq mi) a consequence of both the first and second World Wars. But in 1917 when this postcard was published the German Empire was much larger. The static war of Germany's Western Front in France was not how the war was fought in the east against Russia where the Germans engaged in battles of mobility across what is now Poland and Ukraine. With Germany's ally, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, the Eastern Front stretched roughly 1,600 miles from the Baltic to the Black Sea. By contrast the line of trenches on the Western Front covered only 440 miles from the North Sea to the Swiss border. And where the allied forces in France suffered a loss of 7,500,000 men between August 1914 and November 11, 1918, Russia and its ally Romania fighting in the East against the Germans, Austrians, and Turks sustained 9,900,000 casualties. It is disturbing that those numbers are frighteningly similar to the exaggerated statistics on this propaganda postcard.

The number that I found most incredible was 3,000,000 prisoners. Very soon after the start of the war, Germany's push through Belgium and early success on the Eastern Front produced huge numbers of captured Belgian and Russian soldiers. By the war's end in 1918 there were 2,415,000 prisoners held in camps all across Germany. This map shows the principal POW camps of WW1 scattered around Germany as small red dots.

Prisoner of War Camps
in Germany
(1914-1918)
Source: The Internet

It is very difficult to comprehend just how large that number is within the much larger statistics of the Great War. By way of example here is a group photo of a single barrack at the POW Camp in Göttingen, a university town almost in the center of Germany. Pressed together shoulder to shoulder are ± 111 men, all soldiers of Belgium, France, and Russia. Removed from the war, they were at least safe from death in battle, but nevertheless they still endured guilt at their own survival; sorrow for their fallen comrades; and anger at their impotence to have any further purpose in the war.

It's important to have human faces to remember when we encounter numbers tragic beyond measure. To look into a soldier's eyes that have seen horrible things we can not know is perhaps one way to honor the sacrifice our veterans made for us.

03 November 2018

It's supposedly a very old proverb,but I prefer the longer quote from Samuel Langhorne Clemens, aka Mark Twain.“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.”

It has always been the case that what a person wears defines how they will be perceived by others.And in the world of show business it is especially true for entertainers. For this female pianist, head turned toward the camera, fingers poised over the keyboard, her clothing of fancy neckerchief, ruffed collars, smart tailcoat, and satin breechescertainly prove that clothes do in fact make her the man.

Here is another example. This looks like a handsome couplebut they are of the same sex, as the gent with the top hat is actually a woman.

This next woman in a thoughtful poseis also dressed as a man.The key masculine garb are her breeches,the short pants that were once the elegant markof a fashionable gentleman.

* * *

The first woman's photo is on a French postcard with a caption: Rosine Damande, Original Chanteuse, Diseuse au Piano.~Original singer, (dramatic) monologuist and piano.

The postcard was never mailed and is unmarked but it likely dates from 1910-1914.The photographer left his stamp on the back:Louis Martin, 52 Faubourg Saint-Martin, Paris.

Another clue that this is a French singer/pianistis the ornately carved music stand above the keyboard.It is a Pleyel piano, a celebrated French piano manufacturerfounded in Paris in 1807 by the composer Ignace Pleyel.It was the favorite instrument of Frédéric Chopin,who may be the 19th century pianist Rosine Damande is dressed to resemble.

* * *

The second postcard is of a pair female entertainers.Ella und Leni Dejonjugenl.(ich) Gesangs-Duett~Youthful Vocal Duet

They are two sisters pictured in three small photo images surrounded by an Art Nouveau style frame.In the center the pair wear suitably feminine dresses with embroidered decoration and curious berets, perhaps an indication of French background,maybe from the Alsace-Lorraine region which was part of Germany from 1870 to 1918.On either side they are dressed as a couple.Presumably Ella is the shy girl on the leftand Leni is her attentive beau with top hat and then straw boaterwho wears knee length breeches in both.

The postcard was sent from Mainz to Frankfurt am Main in 1908.

* * *

The third image come from a German postcard captioned:

Anny Köster, weibl.(ich) Humorist~Female Humorist

Pictured in two small photos, seated and standing, Anny's costume is very similar to Rosine's,with a ruffled cravat, tailcoat, and short breeches.The round object Anny holds is a cap, I think,possibly one like those worn by male university students in Germany.

The music halls of Germany and Austria provided a very large circuit for traveling theatrical entertainers who produced thousands of promotional postcards.But the way Anny Köster chose to appear in a man's wardrobe was probably a way to stand out as a female humorist as the majority of German comics were men.Since many of these humorists often included comic songs and musical instruments,I suspect that they were part of Anny's performance too.

This postcard was also sent for Frankfurtbut this time posted from Leipzig on 14 July 1911.

Entertainers in our century dress appropriately for their music and their audience's expectation. A country and western singer must wear a cowboy hat, even if they've never ridden a horse or milked a cow. A rock band must appear in torn jeans and ragged tee shirt, even after years of success have made them millionaires. And in my closet are the uniforms of an orchestra musician: white tie with black tail coat and a formal black tie tuxedo. Though I wouldn't wear either livery around the house or out for an errand to the supermarket, when you are on stage this fashion left over from the 19th century does make you feel like a proper musical artist.

But in the 1900s the female entertainers pictured on these postcards followed different social constraints and unwritten rules on proper dress. Trousers and pant suits were not suitable for women's ordinary wear in public or private. These women were indulging in the freedom of the stage to assume the Breeches Role, a theatrical contrivance mainly associated with opera when a woman dons "breeches", a gentleman's knee pants, to portray a man. Mozart's Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, or Octavian in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier are two of the most famous examples of a Breeches Role, sometimes called Trouser Role. A female singer plays a male character, purposely scored for an alto or mezzo voice. The audience knows the artist is a woman, but suspends disbelief to watch her rendition of a man. It's vaguely similar to transvestite cross-dressing but in the 1900s the breeches had a different connotation. It would be wrong for our modern eyes to interpret any sexual orientation to these performers. It was just play acting.

About This

This is a web gallery of antique photographs of musicians. Most are of people whose names are now lost in time but they represent the many kinds of players, instruments, and ensembles that once defined musical culture.But these photographs also capture a moment in the history of people and places, so I write about that too.

All the photos shown here are in my personal collection.

For Best EffectClick on the Imagesfor a Larger View

For information on my music for horn - go to the bottom of this column.